>> hello and a warm welcome to the "journal" here on dw. >> coming up in the next half- hour -- reports of dozens of deaths in an air strike as the algerian hostage crisis deepens. >> europe's air safety authorities follow the u.s. in grounding all boeing 787 dreamliners pending a safety review. >> and former barcelona coach

pep guardiola gets set to take over bayern munich. we begin in algeria where there are conflicting reports coming in from the southeast of the country. several hours ago, it was reported some foreigners and algerian workers had managed to escape from the gas facility where dozens of hostages are being held by extremists. now, a mauritanian news agency is reporting that as many as 35 hostages and 15 of their captors have been killed in air strikes by the algerian armed forces. there has been no independent confirmation, though, of that news yet. >> one group linked to al qaeda claimed the hostage-taking was in retaliation for the french intervention in neighboring mali, where french troops are moving deeper into territory still under rebel control.

further north, the french air force is targeting a legend rebel positions. the unrest is now fear to be spilling across the border into algeria where the country's army has surrounded the scene of the hostage-taking. at least 20 foreigners are among the hostages. among them are workers from norway, france, and britain. >> events at the remote gas plant unfolded rapidly with conflicting reports about the number of hostages who escaped before the algerian military launched an air strike. the regional news agency said the operation resulted in many casualties. >> the situation there is confusing. i am in constant contact with algerian officials to find the best way out of this. i will not say precisely how many french people could be in captivity. what counts is allowing the

algerians to free them. >> in an interview, and employees spoke about how the drama began on wednesday. he said, "they attacked the sites simultaneously come storming in, and once it was daylight, they gathered us all." the commando is led by an algerian extremists, seen here in an older video message. he wants to end the french intervention in malki which has whichmal -- mali which has you in backing. the extremist group al qaeda in the islamic margaret, which says it carried out the attack, is viewed as extremely dangerous. >> they are a threat. they are a threat to our country. they are a threat to the world. wherever they locate and try to

establish a base for operations, i think that constitutes a threat that all of us have to be concerned about. >> officials are clearly worried that the hostage-taking could be followed by further incidents. >> as we heard there, the hostage-takers in algeria are demanding that france and its intervention in mali. first of all, a very fast-moving situation. we are getting reports of the air strike by the algerian military, possibly 35 hostages dead. what are you hearing about that? >> it is clear something is going on because the british foreign officers have confirmed that they have been told by algerian is that some kind of operation has been launched by security forces there. what we are getting out to the mauritanian capital on the website agency which is quite well-connected and has been broadly accurate since this

began is that there have been attacks by helicopters on the site of the hostage takers, and it would happen when hostage- takers were trying to move hostages around the site, and helicopters fired on them with some kind of missile, and they are saying 34 hostages and 15 hostage-takers were killed. we have no way of verifying that, but as i say, it is clear something has happened. >> of course, we will be watching that closely for an independent verification. obviously, this hostage-taking was an extremely immediate retaliation for what france has been doing. what is france saying about the ?ostage crisis? >> we have to be careful in the way we assess the hostage crisis and how it all happen. yes, it does seem that -- inevitable that there is a link with the mali situation.

on the other hand, it is not something which could have just been cooked up at the spur the moment. it may well have been a planned weeks and months in gestation, very well-prepared, and it was the trigger of the mali operation which set it off. what the french are saying is it just proves the extreme nature of the danger facing westerners, western interest in this part of the world and how it has made all the more necessary the kind of intervention they have taken in mali, but i think in the back of everyone's minds is the way this is internationalizing this conflict. the implications of this are really quite considerable, given that there are americans, there are british. algerians themselves are involved in this. it shows you how the mali

conflict, launched a week ago, is taking on regional and even world-scale applications. >> thanks very much for that. >> meanwhile, european union nations are stepping up efforts to fight rebels in mali. eu foreign ministers in brussels for talks there. nato approved a mission to send 200 military trainers to help mali's forces. >> and they are considering other ways to help the government. the first troops from the african-led mission are due to arrive today. >> for more, we are joined by our brussels correspondent. the eu has agreed to send military personnel. do we have any idea what this mission will look like? >> it is important to stress first of all that the idea is not new. back in december, they agreed

they saw the situation and said they would send down a couple of hundred instructors -- of around 200 instructors -- to train the army, and now, of course, in light of recent developments, this mission will be sped up, which means 200 instructors or 250 will be sent down. they will instruct the army in terms of basic military training, but also in the field of international and humanitarian law and how to protect civilians. there are not many details yet in the number -- and the number of people deployed to the ground could rise again. all we know is that the training mission will be led by a french commander. >> how has the mission been affected by the hostage situation? >> we have heard from our paris correspondent and everyone here in brussels agrees this crisis is expanding. it is becoming a crisis of the whole region, so of course that has an impact also on the

mission. the eu has said that they will not get involved in combat activities, but like i said earlier, the number of people deployed on the ground could rise, especially to protect instructors on the ground so we could see easily the numbers doubled to, say, 500 people deployed on the ground in the next couple of days. >> thanks very much for this. >> how much is at stake in mali? it has already had an impact on algeria. >> france says its mission is essential to stop mali falling into the hands of terrorists completely, but what kind of conflict is it getting into? >> by some estimates, just 2000 rebels control mali's north. can that be possible? the fighters use pickup trucks to move from town to town, and they know their way are around.

it is unclear what kind of foreign support they are receiving. but the influence of the mali- based islamic organization al qaeda stretches across northwest africa from iraq. so it is likely there is support from abroad. the major fear is that rebels could flee across mali's porous borders and spawned a long- lasting guerrilla war. some observers see parallels between france's intervention and the international mission in afghanistan. that was supposed to be a limited-term deployment. it became a long war, but one political experts as comparing the conflict makes no sense. >> the people in mali are not as supportive of radical elements as was the case in afghanistan. and i would say that the countries that are intervening are deciding themselves what

they are getting involved in. that is a huge difference to afghanistan. no one knew at the outset what they were getting into. >> french president francois hollande has set the bar high for the mission. his aim is to liberate no. mali and to stabilize the country over the long term. international community has largely backed the intervention, but whoever joins the fight likely faces a long and difficult war. >> countries like mali need to establish a stable government capable of guaranteeing security to its people. and not just security, but also living conditions that will prevent people from supporting terrorists. >> elections had been planned for april. that is now completely up in the air. even if the military intervention is a short one, mali is likely to remain politically unstable for some time to come.

>> coming up, floods are causing havoc in the indonesian capital. >> first, here's a look at some of the news. >> syrian activists are reporting a new massacre by government forces. the syrian observatory for human rights says pro-assad troops killed more than 100 civilians on tuesday. witnesses are reported as saying troops hunting rebel fighters slotted entire families, including women and children -- slaughtered entire families including women and children. >> new demands come as pakistan's chief anti- corruption official refused the supreme court order to a rust -- arrest the prime minister over lack of evidence. m in the u.s. president's gun control proposals face an uncertain future.

there's no majority in either house of congress with resistance from both republicans and democrats. gun supporters have also launched an advertising campaign against obama's move. the proposals including a ban on assault weapons in response to last month's school massacre in newtown. >> bush fires continue to rage in australia. dozens of homes have been destroyed, and firefighters are struggling to keep the situation under control. more fires are expected this weekend as even higher temperatures and winds are forecast. >> in indonesia, heavy monsoon rains have triggered severe flooding in much of the capital, paralyzing daily lives. at least four people are reported dead, and thousands have had to evacuate their homes. >> authorities have been setting up emergency shelters, and have faced the flood alert -- raised

the flood alert. more heavy rain is forecast for the next few days. standstill. muddy waters of to two meters high in the city center have forced many government offices and businesses to close. people simply cannot get to work. >> i am really sad. i am trying to reach my store, but there is no transportation, no trains, or even a motorbike. but i will keep trying to get there. >> some 20,000 residents have been forced from their homes and evacuated into makeshift emergency shelters. >> my house is totally flooded up to the second floor. i got all my family and children out. now we are here. >> little relief is in sight over the next few days with

weather officials predicting more heavy rain. the government has promised to provide food and supplies to those affected. almost half of jakarta lies below sea level, making flood and landslides a frequent occurrence during the wet season. >> we will be back in a minute. >> we will be looking at boeing's dreamliar. just about the entire global fleet has been grounded. we will be looking at that. -- boeing's dreamliner.

>> welcome back. aviation authorities worldwide have grounded the boeing 787 dreamliner over safety concerns following battery problems with a stated the our aircraft, including one that led to an emergency landing. >> this is the first time since back in 1979 that a u.s.-built plane has been grounded on such massive scale. it is a huge blow as well to the image of boeing, which has marketed the plan as the future of air travel -- marketed the

plane as the future of air travel. >> the decision came overnight. six planes operated by united airlines have been barred from taking off. european regulators followed suit. the 787 had been about to leave chicago to return to poland. >> confirming that they have cancelled the inaugural departure from chicago to warsaw. the plane has just arrived safely, landed just now about five minutes ago. the reason for the cancellation is that both boeing and the faa had issued a recommendation to our board in warsaw to cancel the flight. >> passengers were booked on to other flights. most were unfazed. >> my husband was flying, and i really do not want to take any risk. i would rather have him fly either tomorrow or take some

flight tonight by different airplane lines. >> officials have reacted swiftly to the latest incidents. wednesday, a dreamliner made an emergency landing in japan because of issues with its batteries. the grounding could prove disastrous for boeing, which has its future writing on the aircraft. the investigation could take weeks. >> for more on the business fallout of all of this, let's go to frankfurt. whenever we talk about blowing, you also have to talk about its sworn enemy. will lead to be licking its lips -- will it be in jeopardy licking its lips of the extra orders? >> they will be getting more orders, but not necessarily because of the dream minor. airbus sold 13 less planes than boeing last year, and now the forecasts are pretty optimistic.

investors liked the story and the outlook, so they raised eads shares. also the market in general is up now because of new economic data coming from the u.s. housing data has been better than expected. this gave a boost to shares said that the dax is up by nearly 1%. euro stoxx 50 rising by about 0.75%. there have been some hints that the debt crisis might be solved and that many states are in a pretty good way. >> thanks for that. >> it is election year here in germany. this september, angela merkel will bid for another four years running the country, and this weekend, there's an early test for her coalition. >> ahead of that, merkel and her government have been touting

their economic credentials today in parliament. their message -- while growth is slowing this year, germany has weathered the euro crisis pretty well. >> merkel is counting on that message winning the day both this weekend and in september, but the opposition has other ideas. >> with an important state election coming up this weekend in lower saxony, the campaign rhetoric is getting hotter. reporting on the condition of germany's economy, the economics minister was keen to take as much credit as possible for record employment numbers, rising income, and falling debt. >> it is no accident that our economy is in good shape. it is no accident that new jobs are being created every day. they were created by the efforts of the german people, but they were also created by this governing coalition from >> but the opposition social democrats promptly pounced on the

economics minister's claims. >> if you had anything to do with economic growth, then you have heard growth even more than you have hurt your own party's election results. >> the man who hopes to take chancellor merkel's job later this year accused her of failing to recognize the dangers of an unrestrained financial system. >> for too long, the government has tried to pretend it is all just a debt crisis of other individual countries, but that is only part of the story. now the truth is going to hit you in german taxpayers where it hurts. >> merkel and her cabinet are now hoping economies across europe will start to pick up before the election. those hopes received a boost with news that the european central bank sees growing confidence among financial markets. >> time to move on to sports now. more bad news for former bicycle racing champion lance armstrong. the international olympic committee had stripped him of

the bronze medal he won in the 2000 olympics in sydney. >> armstrong has already lost the seven tour de france victories he won after being found guilty of using performance enhancement drugs. later today, an interview in which he reportedly admits to using drugs is to be broadcast on u.s. tv. and now to a soccer sensation that has taken pretty much everyone by surprise. barcelona's former coach will take over as bayern munich. >> guardiola was the hottest coaching property and head office on the table. instead of rushing up on his english, he is taking a crash course in german. >> it is a done deal, and bayern cannot wait to welcome their new coach. he will take the reins at the end of the season. it was the result of months of negotiations. journalists descended on the

club in large numbers, but they were to be disappointed. >> there's nothing more to add. >> guardiola will take over coaching duties from the retiring coach. >> he's a fantastic coach with loads of experience. he's just the right man. he's also young. by the time he arrives in july, he should be able to speak german well. >> he has already won all the top honors in european club football. he took barcelona to no fewer than 14 titles in his four years at the club. he then left for a year of the game. all of europe's top clubs were chasing his signature. few expected him to put pen to paper at bayern. now it is hoped he can bring some spanish flair to bavaria. >> the coach has to be strong, passionate, and have the energy

to enjoy every single game. >> the triple would be the perfect leaving president before the current coach hands over. >> despite the sweltering heat, it was a good day for the world's top seeds at the australian open. both serena williams and victoria made it in the third round. >> in the midst contest, -- german #1 also made it through. it is a moving story full of ups and downs and featuring an unsung hero of modern life. >> yes, it is the story of an escalator. the moving staircase is celebrating its birthday. the first one went into

operation in new york 120 years ago. >> during the years, escalators have come a long way. >> as darkness falls, it becomes more than just a mode of transport -- it looks like a work of art. this escalated takes visitors into a museum, a former coal mined in western germany. it is an arrival in style. >> the color, this orange is not because it was thought up by the stardust architecture -- architect. it is made to symbolize the glow of smoldering steel. >> it is 58 meters long, 24 meters up, and has an incline of 27 degrees. it takes 90 seconds to reach the top. it is a technological wonder that we take for granted. in its 120-year lifetime, the escalator has helped to make life easier and people lazier.

early escalators were little more than a conveyor belt without steps. some even had saddles for the users to sit on. the escalator truly came of age with the construction of subway systems. passengers were ferried up and down the underground. soon department stores were replacing elegant staircases with their moving counterparts. now escalators have melted seamlessly into the background of modern life. a giant outdoor escalator has even been installed in colombia. the only drawback is they are prone to breakdowns, and then it is a case of back to the stairs. still, if this one is anything to go by, the escalator at 120 is still capable of scaling new

heights. >> before we go, we do just have time to recap of our top story -- the hostage crisis in algeria. several foreign hostages held at the internationally operating gas plant in algeria have reportedly been killed when the algerian armed forces launched an assault on islamist militants. news agencies are reporting a number of hostage takers also lost their lives in that strike. >> the hostage taking is said to be in response to a french military assault on islamist rebels in neighboring mali. we will bring you more on that story in later bulletin's as the news comes in. >> stay with us. we will have more news for you at the top of the hour. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--